CONFIRMATION

[onlyneed1shot]

And then Camille hears nothing from Greene for three days.

She has good nerves, excellent nerves, nerves of steel and steady-hands-defusing-ticking-bomb nerves, but she is also a professional intelligence officer in the middle of an undercover operation and by the time the memo finally (finally) arrives, you could use her nerves for guitar strings.

Officially it is siesta-time (one adapts to local customs), so the complex is quiet. Dominic's lobby to his private office shares a wall with the main lobby - one of the twin aquarium walls filled with Latin American fish. Most of the seats are across the other wall, presumably so people can be distracted by the fish and watching people through the water.

Camille - low-heeled ladies' boots, navy-black pants with a high waist, yellow blouse tucked in, two pairs of studs and one pair of hoops in her ears (she always takes care with her appearance, and this is no expection - is sitting on the low wooden bench with her back to the fish.



(No one is about to shoot her through the water)

Comments

[ofgreatinterest.livejournal.com]

"Well, I can try to be the exception to the rule," he says, in a wry tone. His head is tilted to one side, and for a moment his gaze is not on her, but grazing the wall in an absent manner, as if searching for some sort of approval.

"Time is - precious, after all. You've been well?"

[onlyneed1shot.livejournal.com]

"Perfectly. I trust you have been the same?"

[ofgreatinterest.livejournal.com]

With a slight pout, he shrugs his shoulders in a 'what can you do' manner (quite a lot, when it comes down to it).

"More or less."

[onlyneed1shot.livejournal.com]

"At least it wasn't a 'no'," she replies, tilting her head slightly and lengthing her South American drawl slightly.

[ofgreatinterest.livejournal.com]

"Fair enough."

A pause, and he leans more of his weight against the desk.

"I trust you haven't reconsidered."

(It is, and isn't a question.)

[onlyneed1shot.livejournal.com]

Camille looks at him for half a moment.

"You would know if I had."

[ofgreatinterest.livejournal.com]

"Never hurts to check."

His speech is, for a moment, clipped, clear, precise, less friendly than professional.

(People have tried lying to him before.

It's been unpleasant.)

[onlyneed1shot.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you."

And that is the truth.

[ofgreatinterest.livejournal.com]

He smiles, quick and wry, and holds his hands out as if in supplication before clasping them together.

"I try my best."

Rolling his shoulders back, he leans forward and fixes her with a frank stare.

"Now. Our ... exchange. You already know the cards I can play, I should think.

"How much are you willing to give?"

[onlyneed1shot.livejournal.com]

"I should think you would be aware of that," she says, meeting his gaze without flinch or fidget. "Everything is expendable, depending on the cause and price.

It's the price that is the sticking point."

[ofgreatinterest.livejournal.com]

"So long as you're willing to negotiate."

For some value of negotiation, anyway.

[onlyneed1shot.livejournal.com]

"I am."

[ofgreatinterest.livejournal.com]

"In so far as we are at a bit of a crossroads, the price, I think, will have to be worked out as we go along."

(Shit happens, plans change. One has to account for these things.)

[onlyneed1shot.livejournal.com]

She leans forward, slightly; engaging with audience, showing interest, show willingness to keep up her own side, guides the eye down her throat to the V of her shirt (everything is covered, so it's not as if she means for it to be seductive.)



(so you might assume, anyway)

"It doesn't have to be paid all at once."

She's setting herself up to be strung along, she knows, but the flipside is that he would have to give her information, and she's skilled at putting pieces together.

[ofgreatinterest.livejournal.com]

He himself has never gone for the route of using physical charm. His words are usually enough, and when they're not, the sort of influence that he wields will do the trick.

(Falling for it, unintentional or not as it maybe be, is out of the question.

But, he thinks, he could get used to this.)

Keeping his eyes on her face, the corner of his mouth quirks upwards (just once, he drums his fingers against the edge of the desk).

"Of course."

[onlyneed1shot.livejournal.com]

"So. Tit for tat, as they say, what would you like?"

Despite the far-from-obvious body language, she is not offering herself. Not exactly. Not yet.

(feminism be damned; looks and charms are too useful for her not to use when she needs to)

[ofgreatinterest.livejournal.com]

Dominic's first reaction is a soft laugh, and he turns his head to one side, fiddling with the edge of a file folder while keeping tabs on her out of the corner of his eye.

"Information. But I think you knew that already."

He doesn't seem to feel the need to go into any more detail.

Not now.

[onlyneed1shot.livejournal.com]

She leans back to her original stance with a slight shrug, impatience hidden (for the moment) by long years of practice.

"Just checking. Is that all for now, Senor Greene?"

[ofgreatinterest.livejournal.com]

He doesn't budge, biting down on his lower lip.

Then, in an instant, he's on his feet, noticeably more cheerful as he gives her a curt nod.

Opening his mouth as if to speak, he pauses, as though thinking better of it. Whatever he originally intended to say, what comes out is an almost exaggerated, "Take care."

There may or may not be a double meaning in there, it all depends on how she chooses to read into it.

[onlyneed1shot.livejournal.com]

In contrast, Camille gets to her feet with the same unhurried smoothness that she showed in the lobby, and doesn't show the flicker of surprise at how fast he moved.


Hmmm.


"I'll try to," she says, then - "Buenas tardes."

[ofgreatinterest.livejournal.com]

"Buenas tardes."

(Not too much of an accent, not too little, either.)

By the time she's gone, he's already back behind his desk.